The Scottish Government is being urged to “put things right” and open a redress scheme for Gypsy Travellers for the harm caused by the so-called “Tinker Experiment”. While First Minister John Swinney made an apology for the “trauma” caused by “unfair and unjust policies” last June, the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) said that further action was needed. She said: “Scotland must now put things right and support those who continue to live with the harm.”The SHRC report, titled No Man’s Land, found that “the state systemically forced the assimilation of Scotland’s Gypsy Travellers by conflating nomadism with vagrancy”. This was also done by “discriminating against Gypsy Travellers and by enacting laws in the 1800s and 1900s to suppress nomadic practice and to remove Gypsy Traveller children from their families”. “This has caused mental distress and prevented Scotland’s Gypsy Travellers from conducting their family life and causing significant and lasting trauma.”Prof O’Hagan said that the “marginalisation” of Scotland’s Gypsy Travellers “is a long and shameful part of Scotland’s past and our present”.